Web-based robotic process automation designer systems and automations for virtual machines, sessions, and containers

Abstract

Web-based robotic process automation (RPA) designer systems that allow RPA developers to design and implement web serverless automations, user interface (UI) automations, and other automations are disclosed. Such web-based RPA designer systems may allow a developer to sign in through the cloud and obtain a list of template projects, developer-designed projects, services, activities, etc. Thus, RPA development may be centralized and cloud-based, reducing the local processing and memory requirements on a user's computing system and centralizing RPA designer functionality, enabling better compliance. Automations generated by the web-based RPA designer systems may be deployed and executed in virtual machines (VMs), containers, or operating system sessions.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A system, comprising:
 a developer computing system comprising a web browser; and 
 a development server remote from the developer computing system, the development server providing a web-based robotic process automation (RPA) designer application, wherein 
 the web browser is configured to access and display a web interface of the web-based RPA designer application while the web-based RPA designer application resides on the development server, the web interface configured to provide functionality to create RPA projects, configure RPA workflows, and submit the RPA workflow configurations to the web-based RPA designer application, and 
 the web-based RPA designer application is configured to:
 provide the web interface to the web browser, 
 generate an automation based on a submitted RPA workflow configuration from the web browser, 
 execute the generated automation via an RPA robot and validate the generated automation on the development server, and 
 provide results of the execution of the RPA robot and the validation of the generated automation to the web browser, wherein 
 
 the generated automation is configured to be executed by a production RPA robot at runtime remotely in an operating system session, a virtual machine (VM), or a container, 
 the web-based RPA designer application is configured to provide options for how an automation will start, and 
 the web-based RPA designer application is configured to provide activity configuration options based on a type of the activity. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the operating system session, the VM, or the container is part of a shared pool of resources of the operating system, the VM, or the container. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the web-based RPA designer application is configured to retrieve user interface (UI) elements organized according to a taxonomy from a UI object repository. 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 3 , wherein the UI object repository comprises applications, screens, UI elements, and UI descriptors organized such that the applications group screens, the screens group UI elements, and the UI descriptors enable location of and interaction with the UI elements. 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the generated automation is a serverless automation. 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the web-based RPA designer application is configured to provide a canvas that facilitates creation and modification of RPA workflows. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the web-based RPA designer application is configured to display an empty activity and provide activity categories and actions when a user clicks the empty activity. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the web-based RPA designer application is configured to prevent users from publishing or running automations with static code analysis errors in accordance with governance rules. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 1 , wherein when the generated automation fails validation, the web-based RPA designer application is configured to require correction of validation errors or compliance with governance rules before publishing the generated automation to a production environment. 
     
     
       10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program for a web-based robotic process automation (RPA) designer application, the computer program configured to cause at least one processor to:
 provide a web interface to a web browser of a computing system via a development server, the web browser configured to access and display the web interface while the web-based RPA designer application resides on a development server, the web interface configured to provide functionality to create RPA projects, configure RPA workflows, and submit the RPA workflow configurations to the web-based RPA designer application; 
 generate an automation based on a submitted RPA workflow configuration from the web browser; 
 execute the generated automation via an RPA robot and validate the generated automation on the development server; and 
 provide results of the execution of the RPA robot and the validation of the generated automation to the web browser, wherein 
 the generated automation is configured to be executed by a production RPA robot at runtime remotely in an operating system session, a virtual machine (VM), or a container, 
 the web-based RPA designer application is configured to provide options for how an automation will start, and 
 the web-based RPA designer application is configured to provide activity configuration options based on a type of the activity. 
 
     
     
       11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the operating system session, the VM, or the container is part of a shared pool of resources of the operating system, the VM, or the container. 
     
     
       12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the computer program is further configured to cause the at least one processor to:
 retrieve user interface (UI) elements organized according to a taxonomy from a UI object repository. 
 
     
     
       13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 12 , wherein the UI object repository comprises applications, screens, UI elements, and UI descriptors organized such that the applications group screens, the screens group UI elements, and the UI descriptors enable location of and interaction with the UI elements. 
     
     
       14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the generated automation is a serverless automation. 
     
     
       15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the computer program is further configured to cause the at least one processor to:
 provide a canvas that facilitates creation and modification of RPA workflows. 
 
     
     
       16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the computer program is further configured to cause the at least one processor to:
 display an empty activity and provide activity categories and actions when a user clicks the empty activity. 
 
     
     
       17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the computer program is further configured to cause the at least one processor to:
 prevent users from publishing or running automations with static code analysis errors in accordance with governance rules. 
 
     
     
       18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein when the generated automation fails validation, the computer program is further configured to cause the at least one processor to:
 require correction of validation errors or compliance with governance rules before publishing the generated automation to a production environment. 
 
     
     
       19. A computer-implemented method for web-based robotic process automation (RPA), comprising:
 generating an automation based on a submitted RPA workflow configuration from a web browser, by a web-based RPA designer application of a cloud-based computing system; 
 the web browser is configured to access and display a web interface of the web-based RPA designer application while the web-based RPA designer application resides on the cloud based computing system, the web interface configured to provide functionality to create RPA projects, configure RPA workflows, and submit the RPA workflow configuration to the web-based RPA designer application; 
 executing the generated automation via an RPA robot and validating the generated automation, by the web-based RPA designer application of the cloud-based computing system; and 
 providing results of the execution of the RPA robot and the validation of the generated automation to the web browser, by the web-based RPA designer application of the cloud-based computing system, wherein 
 the generated automation is configured to be executed by a production RPA robot at runtime remotely in an operating system session, a virtual machine (VM), or a container, 
 the web-based RPA designer application is configured to provide options for how an automation will start, and 
 the web-based RPA designer application is configured to provide activity configuration options based on a type of the activity. 
 
     
     
       20. The computer-implemented method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 retrieving user interface (UI) elements organized according to a taxonomy from a UI object repository, by the cloud-based computing system. 
 
     
     
       21. The computer-implemented method of  claim 20 , wherein the UI object repository comprises applications, screens, UI elements, and UI descriptors organized such that the applications group screens, the screens group UI elements, and the UI descriptors enable location of and interaction with the UI elements. 
     
     
       22. The computer-implemented method of  claim 19 , wherein the generated automation is a serverless automation. 
     
     
       23. The computer-implemented method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 displaying an empty activity and providing activity categories and actions when a user clicks the empty activity, by the cloud-based computing system. 
 
     
     
       24. The computer-implemented method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 preventing users from publishing or running automations with static code analysis errors in accordance with governance rules, by the cloud-based computing system. 
 
     
     
       25. The computer-implemented method of  claim 19 , wherein when the generated automation fails validation, the method further comprises:
 requiring correction of validation errors or compliance with governance rules before publishing the generated automation to a production environment, by the cloud-based computing system.